Page 36 of Never Really Over

Her little teeth make an appearance and she kicks her legs, slapping the tray making the puffs bounce a little.

“Mom told me about her curls. She didn’t do them justice.”

I finish up the eggs and start plating them up, along with some blueberries and strawberries, blueberries only for Poppy, setting a plate down in front of Layla and one on Poppy’s tray, sitting next to her so I can help her if she needs it.

“You’re good at this. A natural. My mom said that, too.”

“I’ve been around her since she was born. Plus, she’s easy,” I tell her just as Poppy flings some scrambled eggs at me.

She laughs and I clean up the mess. “Still… you’re just —”

I sit back in my chair. “What? Just her uncle?”

“I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Sure you were. But I’m not just her uncle. I wasn’t then and I’m definitely not now. Natalie and I were close. Our parents moved out of state, not sure you knew that, not that it made much of a difference because it’s not like they were much of parents anyway. Mason, her husband, worked a lot. She was here anytime she wanted out of the house, which was pretty much every day. So no, I’m not just her uncle. Natalie was my best friend and she’s gone and the only thing I can do is raise this little girl. I couldn’t do anything to save Natalie that day, but I can do this. I’m not an uncle. I’m not a guardian. I’m hers and she’s mine forever. You and me against the world, ain’t that right, Tootsie Pop?”

She has blueberries and scrambled eggs all over her face, and quite a bit in her hair as well, but that doesn’t take away from how adorable she is.

“Oh my gosh, Tootsie Pop. That nickname is almost as cute as she is. I’m sorry, Colt. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Sure you did, but that’s because you didn’t know. Now you do.”

Layla shoots me a grateful smile, probably because she realizes that whatever she says won’t get to me now. In the past? Yes. Now? I don’t care enough.

We dive into our eggs, eating in silence until we’ve all finished. While I clean up Poppy, Layla cleans up our plates.

“Thanks for stopping by but Poppy and I have a lot of work to do.”

“She stays with you?”

“Of course she does. I was going to find a nanny but it turns out that’s easier said than done. It also turns out I’m a picky son-of-a-bitch when it comes to who I’m willing to leave her with, so, we have a system down. She stays strapped to my chest most of the day, unless I’m doing something that would be unsafe for her to be around, then I have a few friends from back in the day who stop over.”

“Like who?” she wonders.

When Layla left Hollow Grove, she not only left me, she left all of our friends behind. One thing about the Grove is that people stay around. I like to call it a generational town. Everyone’s related to someone because families build a life here and it’s a good place to live so even if people leave, they come back.

“All of the old gang. Tim and Missy, Corey and Jenna, Brian and his wife who you’ve never met, Tori. Drew and Amy, too, but they’re pretty damn busy with their six kids. The rest of them only have two or three.”

“Wow. You’re still friends with everyone?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

I wipe my hands on a towel after re-loading the dishwasher from how Layla did it. I don’t care if it offends her, she did it wrong. I unhook Poppy from the high chair and hold her on my hip. When I look over at Layla, she’s staring at the wall with an odd look on her face. Her lips twist and eyebrows furrow but she doesn’t seem to be here in this moment. It’s like she’s staring off into space.

“Layla?”

She physically shakes herself out of whatever trance she was in and looks at me with an expression I’ve never seen before. Well, once. When she was telling me that she was leaving Hollow Grove. My body tenses for whatever she’s about to say because I know it’s not going to be good.

“I don’t know. I guess I just figured that you all kind of drifted apart. Isn’t that kind of what happens as we grow up? That’s kind of weird, isn’t it? You just… what?” she scoffs and laughs lightly. But it’s not a laugh that has anything to do with something humorous. It’s a laughatus. We’re beneath her and I have a feeling she’s about to remind me of that. “Still go mudding on the weekends and sit around a bonfire getting drunk on cheap beer Friday nights and having pancakes at Mel’s Diner Saturday morning to fight off the hangover? And they all got married to their high school sweethearts? That’s crazy.”

I rock back and widen my eyes. “Wow. At least I know what you really think of me. And us. Not everyone leaves and stays gone, Layla. Again, not a slam against you. It’s just a fact. And no, we don’t do the same shit we did when we were freaking teenagers. We’ve all grown up. We just grew up together. We’ve become adults. Adults who don’t judge each other for their way of life and not just because we live similarly to one another, because we love and genuinely care for one another. And besides, what’s wrong with sitting around a bonfire and reminiscing old times? Or taking the truck out to a muddy field? None of that is wrong or juvenile or immature. It’s who we are and maybe it isn’t enough for you, but it’s damn sure enough for me,” I sigh and try to get some composure.

“I’m not trying to be a dick here, but you don’t get to come in here and be surprised that I’m still friends with the people we grew up with or judge them for falling in love early and staying in love. Their marriages are solid and good and you don’t have a clue about that because you’re not here. You don’t get to pretend that you know anything about the way we live our lives now or say that this little girl isn’t mine and I’m just her uncle because you don’t know any better.” Oops. I guess I was a little more irritated by that comment than I thought I was.

“I know you’re going through a lot with your mom right now, but have some sympathy and respect for others and don’t act like a judgmental snob because you moved away and the rest of us didn’t. I just lost half of my world. This little girl is the other half. Those friends I still have are more than friends, they’re family. If I didn’t have them or Poppy these past two months, I would have crumbled and that’s the truth of it. I know it’s surprising to you that I could remain friends with people who didn’t see that living here was a privilege and not a jail sentence but not everyone thinks like you do.

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, I need to change Poppy out of her pajamas so we can go say good morning to her cows and take care of stuff. Thanks for stopping by. It was… eye opening. Please tell your mother I’m praying for her and hope she’s better real soon. I’ll bring Poppy over to cheer her up if she needs it.”

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